The council approved a resolution to appoint Mark Swann, the metropolitan auditor for Nashville and Davidson County, Tenn., as the audit department’s new boss.

Updated March 28, 7:38 a.m. to correct the Dallas City Council vote, which was 12-3, not 11-3.

Dallas City Hall officially has a new auditor to examine the city government’s flaws.

But some council members objected Wednesday to the hiring of Mark Swann, saying the hiring process had more than a few blemishes.

By an 12-3 vote, the council approved a resolution to appoint Swann, the metropolitan auditor for Nashville and Davidson County, Tenn., to a two-year term as the audit department's boss. The department's work in recent months sparked discussions about the future of VisitDallas and in recent years helped lead to changes in the city's housing department.

Swann will start May 1 and will have an annual salary of $200,000.

Mayor Mike Rawlings and several council members praised the choice, calling Swann a “stellar candidate.” But council members Scott Griggs and Philip Kingston questioned the performance of an outside search firm that brought them Swann.

Last August, the City Council appointed a five-member City Auditor nominating commission, chaired by former council member Ann Margolin. With the help of a recruitment firm, GOV HR USA, the commission’s national search produced 28 applicants from across the country.

The commission interviewed seven candidates from that pool, and passed along three candidates in February to the City Council for consideration: Swann, Houston’s assistant City Auditor Ola Oyedele and Aaron Munoz, the former Dallas ISD deputy chief for internal audit.

Last week, when the council conducted interviews of the finalists, council members discovered that Munoz — who had served as the district’s interim chief internal auditor — was no longer in his deputy position. Munoz had changed roles and departments at the end of February, not long after DISD hired its new chief, Garland’s Steve Martin.

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The search firm didn’t provide that information to the council, Kingston said. That omission, he said, was a reason to go back to the market and look for a better pool of candidates.

Swann was the only candidate “minimally qualified” for the role, Kingston added.

“We all felt that the search did not generate the quality of candidates that the ninth-largest city in the United States should demand for its top internal oversight role,” he said.

Swann, an Abilene Christian University grad, has 34 years of auditing, management and information systems experience. He has served in Nashville since 2007, and worked as an audit manager and interim city auditor in San Antonio prior to that. He was not immediately available for comment.

Jennifer Staubach Gates, the chair of the council’s Government Performance and Financial Management Committee, said any faults with the process or other candidates shouldn’t reflect poorly on Swann.

“Why would we throw the whole process out because of another candidate’s job description?” Gates said. “It doesn’t diminish Mr. Swann’s qualifications. Starting the process all over again is not good for the city of Dallas.”

Prior to a vote, Rawlings praised Swann for his work during Nashville’s recent mayoral scandal, when Swann was tasked with investigating travel and overtime expenses related to then-mayor Megan Barry. Barry resigned in March 2018 after pleading guilty to felony theft charges relating to an affair she was having with a member of her police detail.

But The Tennessean reported the six-month investigation — which cost the city $100,000 and 1,400 hours to complete — didn't shed much new light on the scandal. The audit confirmed that Barry's bodyguard had performed non-work activities while being paid by the city, but — given limited access to key documents and items in the criminal investigation — it didn't provide much other insight.

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Swann will replace Craig Kinton, who retired in September 2018 after a dozen years in the role -- one of four positions hired directly by the City Council.